The impact of a development policy on Kilimani neighbourhood – city of Nairobi.

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Abstract

Various studies have been done on impact of development policy on the evolution of
urban land uses. However, few focus on development standards for neighbourhood
development. It is due to the above stated shortcoming that this research is imperative in
evolving a comprehensive body of knowledge for enhancing neighbourhood development
as a spatial development process as well as urban environment process. Neighbourhood
development phenomenon has over the years attracted scholars from a wide range of
disciplines. Leading the team are the Urban Planners, Land Economists and Geographers
and Sociologists. However, what these scholars have presented are segments of
knowledge that indeed aids an evolution of a comprehensive body of knowledge that can
be utilized by urban development stakeholders for the betterment of the neighbourhoods’
spatial and structural development.
The rapid population growth and sustained economic growth in the city of Nairobi has
accentuated the encroachment of commercial activities to the middle density residential
zones adjacent to the Central Business District. Up to the early 1990s, Kilimani
neighbourhood was fully residential with predominantly maisonettes and bungalows
sitting on half acre plots and fully serviced with water, sewer, and electricity as well as
tarmacked roads. Land use changes from 1990s albeit majority were (are still) illegal put
pressure on the planning authorities to rezone the neighbourhood by revising the
development densities and users, consequently marking the turning point to the
neighbourhood’s development. This meant maximization of land use as opposed to the
earlier residential maisonettes and bungalows sitting on half-acre plots. The unfolding
scenario as described above has seriously strained the existing infrastructure services
notably roads, water and sewer which are yet to be expanded despite the policy being
applied in the development approvals. This work was prompted by search for a unifying
and comprehensive policy framework Kilimani neighbourhood development taking
cognisance that the current development policy framework for the neighbourhood has
become obsolete, archaic, presenting relics of colonialism and therefore were geared
towards preserving class segregation. The policy framework envisaged herein includes
those regulations that define and appertain to land use development such as plot rations,
plot coverage, building materials, building setbacks, user zones and land surrender among
others.